The story of a formative year amidst the battle over civil rights from award winner Deborah Wiles.

It is 1964, and Sunny's town, Greenwood, Mississippi, is being invaded. So is her home. Her daddy got married last summer, and her house filled up with a new stepmother, Annabelle, a new brother, Gillette, and a new sister, Audrey. Sunny's new family has been growing together, but when Gillette tattles to her father, things grow chilly between them.

Greenwood has been tense and chilly too, but that's because students and "agitators" from up north have driven down in buses for a Freedom Summer, to help register citizens in the town to vote. Everyone in the town, from the churches to the schools to the movie theaters, has been choosing sides, and Sunny suddenly understands how scary it can be to help people out, even when you know you're doing good.

Raves & reviews:

Praise for The Sixties Trilogy #1: Countdown:

* "Fifty years later, 1960s words and images still sound and resound in this triumphant middle volume of the author's Sixties Trilogy." -Kirkus, starred review

* "Wiles skillfully keeps many balls in the air, giving readers a story that appeals across the decades as well as offering enticing paths into the history." -Booklist, starred review

* "The larger story . . . told here in an expert coupling of text and design, is how life endures, even triumphs, no matter how perilous the times." -Horn Book, starred review

* "References to duct tape (then newly invented), McDonald's and other pop culture lend authenticity to this phenomenal story of the beginnings of radical change in America." -Kirkus, starred review

* "Wiles palpably recreates the fear kids felt when air-raid sirens and duck-and-cover drills were routine . . . this story is sure to strike a chord with those living through tough times today." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

* "An ambitious, heady endeavor that succeeds wonderfully in capturing the atmosphere of that pivotal and eventful summer, with the documents offering a broader context. SNCC, the Klan, the Citizens' Council, the FBI, and everyday people play their parts, and no one is left unchanged. An author's note and a solid bibliography round out this innovative work commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Freedom Summer." -TheHornBook, starred review